Andy Goodman believes there are six stories every organization should be ready to tell.

1. The nature of our challenge story: This story describes the problem that you are trying to address with your programs/services. “Too often, we express this as a number,” warns Goodman.
2. The creation story: This is the “how we started” story. “It’s primarily for internal use,” Goodman says, “but I think everybody who works in an organization should know it.”
3. The emblematic success story: This story shares your unique approach and why it works.
4. The values story: These are the stories through which your organization shows how it lives out its core values
5. The striving to improve story: This story is for internal use and says “sometimes we fall short, sometimes we outright fail, but we always learn from our mistakes and do better next time,” Goodman says.
6. The where we are going story: This is a story that says if your organization does its job right, this is what it will look like in five to 10 years.

 

Some of these stories are for your stakeholders.  Some are for your Board, staff, and volunteers.  All of them say more about your organization than any mission statement or set of numbers can do alone.